Chapter 2! Our mystery character reveals himself!
Alice and Kate ended up at the Thrift Store.
"Why did you take me to the Thrift Store?" Alice asked.
"Because! I'll show you!" Kate skated towards the back, where a few employees were sorting through bags of donations. "This retro guy came by and dropped off all this cool stuff, like the skates I'm wearing. Dave said I could have them." Alice and Kate looked through all the stuff. There were afro wigs, platform shoes, bellbottoms and pretty much everything that came from the 70's.
"Hey, check this out!" Alice held up a purple lava lamp.
"Sweet! It'd look tight in your room!" Kate said.
"You think so?" Alice asked.
"Oh, totally!" Kate answered.
Later, Alice was in her room. It was in the attic, but it was cozy. It was completely insulated with a little window on both sides of it that showed the yard and some mountains beyond that. All Alice really could fit in there was her bed, a dresser, a desk, and a small cabinet with a TV on top. She took the lava lamp and put it on her dresser.
"It does look cool!" She said to herself. "Now how do I turn it on?" She looked all over it and couldn't find a switch or plug. "Dang it!" She happened to rub off a mark on the lamp then purple smoke came out of it. "Aaah!" Alice dropped it and backed away. When the smoke cleared, she saw a man floating in the middle of her room... wait- floating? He had a long goatee and black hair pulled in a fez. He wore gold earrings and teal blue clothing with a red bow tie. He had no feet; instead his lower body flowed in the air into a swirl, like a ghost.
"Hello, insert human's name here, I am the all-powerful genie, Norm!" He snapped his fingers and a large neon sign that spelled out his name momentarily appeared, floating above his head before disappearing in a puff of smoke. "And you get 3 wishes!" He looked at Alice, whose blue eyes were staring at him in shock. "Helooooo?" He said, waving a hand in front of her face. She blinked a few times and slowly moved down to sit on her bed.
"This isn't happening." she said, covering her face with her hands. "I'm dreaming. This isn't real."
"Of course it's real! I'll show you!" He snapped his fingers and they were transported to the top of a skyscraper in New York City. Alice gasped. "See?"
"Okay, I believe, now take us back!" she said a little shakey. He snapped his fingers again and they were back in her room. "That was weird."
"So, master, what're your wishes?" he asked her. She noticed he said "master" a little sarcastically, but said nothing of it. She just shrugged.
"What do people usually wish for?" she asked.
"Well, it's usually the same wishes. First, they wish for something stupid, like a giant sandwich. Then it's 'I wish I ruled the world!' and when that goes bad, it's 'I wish I never met you!'" He then looked at her over his sunglasses. "So what is it, sweetie?" Still a little dazed, Alice replied.
"I don't know, but I got homework to do." She pointed to the backpack on her bed.
"You could wish it done." Norm told her.
"Wishing it done won't get me into college." she answered.